Introduction to Character Animation - Blender

184 Pages·2006·3.82 MB·English

Introduction to Character Animation
Blender Summer of Documentation
Copyright © 2006 by Ryan Dale

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This PDF contains a snapshot of the Blender Summer of Documentation tutorial,
“Introduction to Character Animation”. This PDF was generated on 19 Sept
2006.

For the most current version (with corrections and clarifications, and links),
please see the Blender wiki at:

http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation

Enjoy!
-Ryan
BSoD/Introduction to Character Animation
< BSoD
Contents
1 Welcome!
2 Feedback
3 Introductory material
4 Modeling
5 Materials and lighting
6 Rigging
7 Animation
8 Finished product
Welcome!
This tutorial is the result of about a month of intense work as part of the Blender Summer of Documentation. I
created it with the hope of introducing many new users to Blender, as well as providing a resource for
experienced Blender users.
Even if you've never heard of Blender before, you will be able to do this tutorial.
Enjoy!
-Ryan
Marenzelleria 05:46, 26 July 2006 (CEST)
Note: The review in the latest Blenderart
(http://www.blenderart.org/) 6 magazine (thanks
Blenderart!) refers to three sections of the tutorial that
were referred to in my original outline:
envelopes vs. vertex groups
custom bone shapes
using the stride bone
If you're looking for these somewhat advanced topics, they
aren't in the current version of the tutorial yet. They're on
the way.
-Ryan
Feedback
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Visit the support thread
(http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=74704) at blenderartists.
Introductory material
Introduction: What to expect from this tutorial.
Modeling
Setting up the mesh - Start up Blender, add a plane, and set up symmetrical editing.
Creating the mouth - start shaping and extruding the mouth.
Face and eyes - Keep extruding the face, and add eyes.
Finishing the head - Finish off the head.
Neck shoulders and arms - Create the upper body by extruding neck, shoulders, and arms.
Torso legs and feet - Create the torso and lower body.
Materials and lighting
Lighting - Add lights to the scene, and do a test render.
Materials and textures - Add materials to the skin and eyes, and add textures to the skin.
Rigging
Upper body: building the armature - Build a skeleton for the upper body.
Upper body: Weight painting - Configure the skeleton for the upper body.
Lower body: building the armature and weight painting - Build and configure the skeleton for the lower
body.
Final rig adjustment. - Make some final improvements to the rig.
Animation
Animating a simple action - Animate a "Wave" action using the Action editor.
Animating a walkcycle - Animate a walkcycle using the Action editor.
Mixing actions with the NLA - Combine the wave action and the walkcycle action together in the NLA Editor.
Facial expressions - Create a set of facial expressions.
Adding sound and lip syncing - Use the facial expressions to lip sync to sound.
Final animation - Mix everything together into a final animation and render the output.
Summary - A recap of the tuTtohirsia pl,a agne dw aa sf ilnaaslt nmootedi ffireodm 1 7th:0e7 a, u16th Soer.ptember 2006.
Finished product
Here are some static poses of the character you'll create in this tutorial. The end product of the tutorial is
5-second animation of the character, including a walkcycle and lip sync.
Ready? Start with the Introduction . . .
Categories: Introduction to Character Animation | Blender Summer of Documentation
BSoD/Introduction to Character Animation/Intro
From BlenderWiki
< BSoD | Introduction to Character Animation
Blender Summer of Documentation: Contents | Manual | Blender Version 2.42
Contents
1 About this character animation tutorial
1.1 Why should I do this tutorial?
1.2 How long will it take?
1.3 Isn't this information available elsewhere?
2 Format of the tutorial
2.1 Main body
2.2 Side notes
2.3 Keyboard commands, mouse controls, and menu items
2.4 Notes
2.5 Downloadable files
3 Prerequisites
4 Caveats
About this character animation tutorial
This tutorial is designed to teach you the more advanced tools available in Blender. It's written in the spirit of "Gus the
Gingerbread Man" tutorial: no prior knowledge is assumed. In other words you'll be able to follow this tutorial without
any prior Blender experience.
Why should I do this tutorial?
Upon completion, you will have a fully rigged character (with facial expressions and a skeleton) and an animation - lip
synched to sound, starring your character. You'll end up with the tools and knowledge to make your own character and
make it do whatever you want. It's your one-stop-shop for learning many of the tools in Blender.
How long will it take?
Depending on your prior experience and how quickly you work, it could take anywhere from a single day to a month.
Take your time and don't worry about finishing it within some time limit.
It's not about the destination, it's about the journey: don't try to speed through this tutorial. Take the time to learn Blender
-- it will pay back in the long run, when you'll be able to finish your own projects quickly and efficiently.
Isn't this information available elsewhere?
It sure is! I've repeated things that are found throughout the Blender manual, in other tutorials, and around the web. If I've
used someone else's work for reference, I've cited that in the text. The advantage of this tutorial is that it compiles all of
that knowledge into a single step-by-step guide.
Format of the tutorial
Main body
The main body of the tutorial consists of steps to carry out and accompanying screenshots. Individual steps are indicated
by bulleted items.
Step one, with some explanatory text
Step two
Step three, and why we did it that way.
If a screenshot is too small, you can always click on it for a larger view. In the text, I've tried to explain why you're doing
a particular step in as well as how to do it.
Side notes
To accomodate the widest range of skills, I've tried to assume as little as
possible on the part of the reader. To prevent beginning users from becoming
lost and more advanced users from getting bored, I will introduce new topics
About side notes
and concepts as side notes that beginners can read and advanced users can
easily skip over.
Keyboard commands, mouse controls, and menu items This is a side note, which will
introduce new commands or
At the beginning of the tutorial, I've tried to include the hotkey or menu item for concepts. It is a way of separating
each command. It's easy enough to skip over them if you know them already, out explanatory material from the
but they'll be helpful if you take a break and come back later. You won't have to step-by-step format of main body of
page back looking for the hotkey if you forget. the tutorial.
Later on in the tutorial, I won't spell out often-used commands, since you'll have These side notes will contain a brief
already learned them. explanation, relevant hotkeys or
menu items, and a link where you
Notes can find more information.
Periodically you'll see a note like this:
A note on notes:
Notes like this one will warn you of common pitfalls, explain
why some steps were taken, and to periodically remind you to
save
Downloadable files
At the end of each major section, you can find a .blend file to download. If you get stuck, or want to skip some sections,
feel free to download the file and start from that point.
Prerequisites
I've assumed little to no prior knowledge of Blender. As such, I take the time at the beginning of the tutorial to explain
common tools and commands. An experienced user can cruise right through the first few sections quickly, while a
beginning user should take the time to read the explanations.
As supplementary material, check out the one-page Blender QuickStart Guide.
Don't worry about memorizing all those commands. At each step throughout the tutorial, I'll remind you of the hotkeys or
menu commands. With enough practice, you'll memorize the commands that are worth memorizing without even trying.
Caveats
Please keep in mind that this is only one way of doing things. There are many different work flows, and I'm only showing
you the way I do it.
I've tried to strike a balance between keeping the character simple enough so that a beginner can follow along, but
complex enough so that you can learn more advanced techniques. Feel free to add more detail, make more complex
materials and textures, or make a more complex rig. Consider this tutorial as a guideline for your own creations.
Next: Setting up the mesh
Previous: Index
Back to Index
Retrieved from "http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/Intro"
This page was last modified 08:49, 15 September 2006.
BSoD/Introduction to Character Animation/Setting up
the mesh
From BlenderWiki
< BSoD | Introduction to Character Animation
Contents
1 Welcome to Blender!
2 Vital functions
2.1 Selecting
2.2 Undo
2.3 Saving
2.4 Loading
3 A fresh start
4 Add a plane
5 Mirror the plane
Welcome to Blender!
If you haven't already, please take the time to read the Introduction for important information regarding this tutorial.
You can download Blender from www.blender.org (http://www.blender.org) . Blender is available for many operating
systems: Windows, OSX, Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD. Instructions for installation also an be found there. Once it's
installed and started up, you'll see something like this:
The default scene.
In the default screen, moving from the top down, there is:
1. A top header containing the File menu, Add menu, and others
2. The 3D Window with some objects
3. The header for the 3D Window
4. The header for the Buttons Window
5. The Buttons Window
Note: When you start Blender, a console window is opened.
This is useful for feedback when doing more advanced
operations. For now, you can safely ignore this window. Don't
close it, though, or it will close the other Blender window as
well.
Let's get started!
Vital functions
Note: A note on abbreviations used in this tutorial: